GCC council meeting cancelled due to lack of quorum

The June 6 Gardner City Council meeting has been cancelled due to lack of a quorum, and agenda items will be held for the June 20 meeting.
Council meetings are held the first and third Monday of every month, and to meet the quorum requirement four members must be in attendance.
The meeting was cancelled when Steve Schute, council president, and Lee Moore, notified the city staff they were unable to attend June 6.
The decision to cancel prior to the meeting rather than doing roll call and adjourning the meeting for lack of quorum was made by Chris Morrow, mayor.
“I think it best to cancel meetings in advance once it has been determined a quorum will not be present,” Morrow said. “I think it best to be respectful of people’s time, including the public, city staff, and the other members of the governing body.”
Last week the Utility Advisory Council meeting was cancelled after roll call when several members did not attend.
Although previously council members have phoned in to participate, that has only been when a quorum is seated, Morrow said.
“This is an issue that has not been, in my mind, adequately defined,” he said. “In the past council members have been allowed to call in and participate in meetings as best they can, but to the best of my recollection this has only happened when a quorum was seated in council chambers. “
Items on the agenda included: accepting sanitary sewer and utility easements for the extension of public utilities for the Gardner Edgerton Advanced Technical Center; establishing hangar rates for Gardner Municipal Airport; consider the I-35 Sub Area plan; accepting public infrastructure in Nottingham Village Apartments development; and authorizing the city administrator to execute a contract for the acquisition of real property to help clear the Runway Protection Zone of the GMA.
“Meeting and quorum requirements in Gardner have been the same for as long as I can remember,” Morrow said. “In any event, the agenda items for the June 6th meeting are important enough, in my mind, to expect the governing body meet the quorum requirement.”